Rad the Raichu & Project: Dayna
by RUpineapple
Summary: An ambitious Raichu and a cautious Togedemaru sneak into an abandoned building to loot its wealth, only to find the remnants of a mysterious plot. This story takes place in an original region. Chapter 3 is up and chapters 1 and 2 have been updated for fixed errors and polish.
1. Chapter 1

1

...

The room was silent.

The darkness occupied the stillness of the near empty room. The kind of pitch black you'd naturally expect from someplace left untouched for an indefinite amount of time. Quiet thrived in the chilling space. At least, only for a little while. Breaking the silence was the clanging and banging of a metal vent cover in the corner. Soon, quiet was dead and two whispering voices took its place.

"Ow!" yelped a timid voice.

"You're not hitting hard enough!" a slightly lower voice rebuked.

"It's harder than it looks!"

"All right, all right, scoot back a bit."

One swift kick was all it took to release the vent cover's hold on the wall.

First to slide out was a Raichu.

He could easily be mistaken for any ordinary Raichu if it weren't for the fact that he was missing his tail, his cheeks were covered in bandages and part of his right ear was torn as though someone had tugged on it. He donned a frayed worn out sleeve of leather like a jacket. On the left of his jacket, attached a small rusted piece of metal splotched with yellow paint and the word "RAD" in black lettering.

"See anything, Rad?" the softer voice called out from the vent.

"Yep... I see dark, Barry," said Rad the Raichu. "And lots of it."

Barry was the next in line to tumble into the room, along with a stout flashlight and a burlap sack.

He's a Togedemaru who wore a brimless hat made of foil and spectacles crudely fashioned out of a paperclip, tape and recycled glass.

"Wow, you weren't kidding," says Barry as he flipped on the flashlight.

"Of course I wasn't kidding! Why would I kid about something like this?" Rad took the light from his accomplice.

"Well, when you told me you discovered an abandoned Pokémon Center filled with intact equipment, _underground _of all places, I found it hard to believe you."

Rad smirked. "Have I ever steered you wrong?"

"Uh…"

"Don't answer that."

Rad shone his light throughout the room and as their eyes adjusted to the darkness, the duo took mental notes of their surroundings. Towers of inactive computers and equipment lined the walls and several tables and office chairs lay scattered in the center area.

The Pokémon explored their newfound discoveries from corner to corner. Dusty cobwebs, discarded sheets of paper and the occasional potted plant were all upturned and scrutinized in the search for precious loot. The dead computers hid their delicate components within steel casings that resisted whatever form of violence Rad could muster with his paws. This sort of protection of sophisticated technology made the mysterious empty laboratory more unsettling. After failing to find anything useful or valuable, Rad and Barry continued their search down a hall that led to another unlit space.

"Are you sure about this?" Barry asked.

"Eh, probably," Rad shrugged. "We're bound to bump into something sooner or later. I got a quota to fill, remember?"

Barry replied with a trembling nod. It wasn't his first time spelunking with Rad, but this particular venture presented a wafting air of unease. Suddenly, he heard a faint rustling coming from the other side of the room, causing the Togedemaru to quiver as his ears perk up.

"D-did you hear that?"

Rad flexed his good ear in an attempt to register a sound. "I didn't hear anything."

Barry walked backward while searching for the source of the noise only to bump his head on a limp object dangling from above.

"_**Ahh! Rad!"**_ he shrieked, sprinting behind the Raichu. "We're not alone!"

Rad used his light to reveal the object: the sleeve of a white lab coat draped over a chair.

"It's just a coat, Barry."

Rad illuminated the remainder of their environment. Upon further inspection, the new room they were in looked exceptionally ravaged. The tiled floor was littered with paper and writing implements, swivel chairs were knocked over and even some of the bulky computer cases had impressive dents imbedded into them. Barry shivered in fright. His suspicions of the two not being alone may soon prove to be true, but the threat of potential hostilites failed to impede Rad's stuff hunting mission.

"Well, whoever was here didn't bother to tidy up," said Rad.

"Oh, dear," Barry whimpered. "Do you know what this means?"

"Yeah! There's more stuff to loot!"

"No Rad! This _definitely _isn't some random Pokémon Center! No one leaves a great big mess in a place like this! Something must've gone wrong. It looks like they left in a hurry."

"Maybe they were just lazy, Barry. These are _humans_ we're talking about."

The Togedemaru walked up to a broken computer screen and examined the damage. The scattered shards of glass made the area difficult to walk through.

"I think we may have stumbled into some sort of research laboratory," Barry noted. "But what is a research lab doing underground? What's more, all this technology looks really sophisticated. Why would they leave it all behind like this?"

"Wrecked research lab, abandoned Pokémon Center, so what? All that matters is that we get our paws on some useful junk and bring it back to the Lair," Rad lifted a lab coat sleeve with a nearby pen. "Yeesh. If I was stuck down here, I'd probably leave too."

The Raichu's eyes glance up to the wide desk in the center of the room. He held the flashlight in his mouth and climbed the toppled chairs to reach the desk's contents.

"W-where are you going?!" Barry squeaked.

"Just stay put while I look around," Rad ordered.

He sifted through the paper and folders littered across the work space until he came across a page with printed black and white pictures. The photos showed several Raichu mugshots, each labeled a different number.

"Well, that's ominous," Rad commented.

Meanwhile, Barry sat as still as he could, waiting for his friend to return. In the distance, a skittering sound, like the tapping of nails, caused him to jump.

"Was that you, Rad?" he shivered.

"Hey, Barry!"

"Ack! What?!" the startled Togedemaru looked above the desk to see Rad holding a remote shaped device riddled with red and black buttons, fitted with a speaker and a short antenna.

"What is that?" Barry asked.

"This, my rotund friend, is a communicator thing-ga-ma-what-sit!" Rad raised the odd prize high above his head. "And it's still intact! We could totally take this back home, free it of its parts and fix the radio."

"A thing-ga… huh?"

"I don't know. I think they call it a 'walkie-talkie'," Rad tossed the device down to his partner. "Stick it in the bag, little buddy! We're getting paid double tonight!"

"Oh, I hope so," said Barry. His small hopeful smile was quick to change to a fearful quiver as he noticed another presence in the room.

Rad jumped down to the floor to reunite with his friend. "Finally! Let's get out of this creepy place."

"Uh… Rad?" The Togedemaru pointed at the new entity and Rad's eyes followed. "W-Who is that?!"

A few feet away from the scavenging Pokémon were two white shining eyes, devoid of pupils, staring back at them from the darkness.

"Hi there," Rad waved down the set of eyes. "Um… Sorry to burst your bubble, but we were here first, bud. We looted this junk fair and square."

The stranger shambles its way forward in slow clumsy steps into their view. The new presence revealed itself to be a Raichu, but it's silhouette was the only feature it shared with the Pokémon. Instead of fur, this Raichu donned cold gray steel skin. It had glowing bulbs of white light where eyes should be, rectangular ears and sparking exposed wires hanging out of holes in its cheeks.

Rad gawked at the artificial Pokémon. "Oh… you're... a robot?"

His sidekick's spines stood out in fear.

"Ha! My mistake," Rad chuckled as he and Barry tiptoed backwards. "You must be the automatic vacuum cleaner. Don't mind us. We were just on our way out."

But as soon as they turn around to leave, the duo were greeted to five more robotic Raichus. Their wires and eyes sparked with furious energy and as the blue electricity arced, the space around them lit up.

"_**Ahh!" **_Rad and Barry shrieked.

The silent Raichu automatons shook and twitched. The free spasms of electric sparks threatened to singe the organic Pokémon. The robots limped toward them, inching closer and closer, surrounding the intruders.

"What do we do?!" Barry trembled.

"Barry, at times like this, we need a cold and calculated plan: ... _**Run!**_"

Rad took off with their burlap bag. He plowed through the first robot and knocked it on its back. Barry followed and shortly after, the fake Raichus gave chase. Rad and his comrade fled out the room and down corridor after corridor in an attempt to lose their attackers. As the robots ran together, electricity shot across their cheeks and jumped toward the retreating Pokémon.

"What _are_ these things?!" Barry shouted.

"No clue!" Rad called back. "Luckily for us, I have an idea!"

The Togedemaru kept his eyes forward. "It's not the one where you kick me, is it?"

Rad didn't answer. He slows his running speed so he is just behind his conveniently ball-shaped companion and whips his foot into Barry's side.

"_**Aiee!" **_The spherical Pokémon bounces off both walls of the corridor like a sporadic pinball. Yelping in pain, he ricochets off the Raichu bots and topples them over.

"I gotcha dude!" Rad leaps into the air with his paws out, catching his dizzy accomplice before they hit the ground.

"Ugh, I hate that idea," Barry grumbled.

Rad looked up to see an open door. "In here!"

They duck into the other room moments before the charging Raichus stampede past. Once the coast is clear, the fleeing Pokémon slide the door shut.

"What do we do now?! We're trapped in here!" Barry gasped, catching his breath.

"_Huff_… Gimme some time to think," Rad looked ahead of them and widened his eyes, spotting something in the vicinity.

"I knew coming down here was a bad idea!" the shaking Togedemaru eased away from the door.

"Barry! Check this out!"

Barry turned to his friend who was walking towards a disheveled work desk on the opposite side of the room. The dull space had its contents a little more organized than the previous room. No abnormal signs of mess or fuss. The upright swivel chair was positioned with care to obscure the view of something below. The duo noticed a dusty metal box deep underneath. The box was as tall as a Raichu and had a sizable burgundy-colored switch on the front.

Rad pointed to a label affixed to a clipboard by the side of the box that read:

"_Project: D4YN4"._

"What's a... 'Dayna'?" asked the Raichu.

"I think those are just letters and numbers, Rad," Barry noted.

Rad rolled his eyes and knocked on his noggin. "I know that, Barry. I can read. Help me open this thing, will ya?"

"Wait! We shouldn't be digging ourselves any deeper! These kinds of doors keep people out so they won't enter whatever danger is inside and die! Those robots probably attacked us because we were trespassing!"

"Safes have doors too," Rad placed his paws on the box's switch. "They keep people out so no one can steal the goodies inside."

"Oh, this can only end in disaster," said Barry as he pulled on his ears.

"C,mon! Open!" Rad repeatedly jerked on the switch before finally forcing it down with a reverberant slam. A few more clicks and clanks followed as the mechanisms within the box's lock tumbled into alignment. Soon, the door creaked open by itself and unveiled its contents.

Peering inside, the duo gazed upon the teal-colored metal-plated quadruped body of a Shinx robot. Unlit bulbs took place of its eyes, its ears were cubical instead of oval-shaped and a stocky antennae where its tuft of hair should be.

"Is that a Shinx?" the Raichu's explorer curiosity gets the better of him as he steps towards the caged creation.

"What are you doing?!" Barry whispered. "It's another killer robot!"

Much to the Togedemaru's dismay, Rad leans in closer and waves his paw in front of the motionless Pokémon automaton. No immediate sign of movement was enough for the duo to relax, albeit momentarily.

"I think it's dead," Rad concluded.

"I don't think robots can die," Barry intervened. "They were never alive to begin with."

"Just so we don't jump down that robots-living-and-dying Buneary hole, let's figure out how you turn this on."

Barry's fur stood on end at hearing his comrade's words. "_T-Turn it on?! _Are you forgetting something?! Something about Raichu robots almost murdering us?!"

"Relax, Barry. I'm not _actually _going to turn it on," Rad waved down his panicking friend. "I'm just trying to figure out how it works. I bet this thing is worth a fortune!"

As he examined the potentially prized Pokémon look-alike, Rad realized that the end of the Shinx's tail had been inserted into a socket on the floor of its containment unit. With one firm tug, Rad freed the tail revealing that the end was rounded and open as opposed to the star-shaped end of an actual Shinx's tail.

"Eep!" Barry shielded his face and braced for it.

…

Nothing happened.

The Togedemaru peeked out of his paws and breathed out in relief.

"See?" Rad tosses the tail to the ground. "Completely harmless."

Without warning, the Shinx's eyes light up.

"_**Look!"**_ Barry shouts.

They jerked away from the robot as its head spins and joints bend.

"Running system startup," said an electronic female voice. "Automatic system functions are operational. Booting artificial intelligence program. Booting adaptive learning program..."

"It can talk?!" Rad exclaimed.

A short melodic jingle of beeps and boops sounded before the Poké-bot stands before them at full attention. "System boot: one hundred percent complete."

Rad approached the active entity in awe. "Whoa, you must be Dayna."

"'Dayna'. Command not recognized," the Shinx replied.

The Raichu pointed behind the robot. "That's what it says on your clipboard."

"I will register 'Dayna' as a potential command."

"Hey, this is pretty cool!" Rad looked back at his friend cowering behind him. "Barry, it looks like this robot doesn't want to hurt anyone. Otherwise, she probably would've murdered us by now."

"Rad, this is such a bad idea!" Barry whimpered. "It could— Wait... How do you know it's a _she?_"

Rad shrugged. "She sounds like a she."

"I don't think robots have genders!"

"'Gender'. Command not recognized," Dayna reacted. "Operator may not be qualified to command this unit. Scanning for valid operator."

Before anyone could respond, Dayna emitted a blinding flash with her artificial eyes, causing Rad and Barry to flinch.

"Ack!"

"Scan complete. Operator not recognized. Please state your name."

"The name's Rad," said the Raichu rubbing his eyes. "And this Togedemaru here is my partner, Burton McBearington."

The globe-shaped Pokémon hesitated. "Uh, hi... scary robot Shinx. M-my friends call me 'Barry'. And by friends, I mean Rad cuz… he's my only friend."

"'Friend'. I will register that word for further analysis," Dayna turned to Rad, examining him from head to toe. "May I ask how fresh your wounds are? Do you require a visit to a Pokémon Center?"

"What? Oh! You mean the cheeks, the ear and missing tail, right?" Rad gestured to his non functioning body parts. "Well, that's a long story! But to make a long story short, I lost them in an epic battle with a… uh… an Aerodactyl! Yeah! That thing chewed me up something fierce! It ate my tail, ripped off my cheeks— it was wicked gruesome! I mean sure, I lost the ability to use electricity and all, but it was a small price to pay for keeping our home safe from that flying creep!"

Barry put his paw to his face. "Really, Rad? Of all the things you could have thought of…"

"My data on Raichu suggests your inability to harness electricity may be due to a separate issue," says Dayna. "Further analysis states my data on fossil Pokémon suggests your incident had a miniscule chance of occurring."

Rad cocked an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"I think she means your story's bogus," said Barry.

"Well, it was a lot better than Mack's _lightning strike_ story!" the Raichu retorted.

"Yeah, but that one sounded probable."

"Probability of damage due to lightning strike: one point three seven out of ten percent chance of failure," Dayna stated. "My steel body is designed to withstand multiple lightning strikes of energy and its' temperatures as well as collisions registering at a maximum of 300 miles per hour and unsweetened oatmeal without fruit."

"That's... oddly specific," says Barry.

"Cool story, Dayna. Hey! I have an idea!" Rad said with faux enthusiasm. "Why don't we take you back to the Lair? We could sell you for your parts, but it'll be much more awesome if you lived with us! You can be my robot butler!"

"Rad!" chided the Togedemaru.

"Okay, we can take turns," Rad sighed.

All of a sudden, the door of the room was greeted to a racket of banging, scraping and shaking from the other side. It didn't take long before the doorway was pried open and the rampaging robotic Raichus clambered through.

"The killer robots are back!" Barry ducked behind Rad.

Dayna stood in front of the two in a bracing stance. "A threat has been detected. Please stand behind me, gentlemen."

Rad and Barry stepped back and Dayna's ears and antenna retreated into her head. In their place, the Shinx produced a box-shaped apparatus around her face that was outfitted with sets of mirrors. In each of the four corners of the box surrounding her head, four low powered lasers pointed at the intruding Raichus, meeting in the center. Dayna's bulb eyes were next to go into her head and her whole body vibrated as a thundering humming sound emitted, getting louder and louder. Sparks of blue electricity arced and sprang across the Shinx robot's feet until finally, wide beams of light shot out of the holes of her eyes with an ear-deafening blast. The Raichu doppelgängers were bathed in an impressive and violent display of light and electricity. The rogue robots explode, shattering into many pieces, leaving nothing behind but fried shards of components giving off wisps of black smoke.

As soon as it happened, it was over. Dayna's laser array went back into her head and her normal defining features returned. Quiet also made its return to the facility as Rad and Barry stared on at the mass destruction, eyes wide and jaws to the floor. After a brief pause, Rad broke the silence.

"That… ...was… ..._**amazing!**_" The Raichu cheered with exuberance.

"Upon examining the situation, I suggest differently. The prototype has been activated," Dayna stated.

"I-I'm sorry," Barry stuttered. "Prototype? What prototype?"

"Executing emergency operation: Warner."

"Warn who?" Rad dropped his elation.

Without acknowledging the two, the robot Shinx darts out of the room and back down the dark corridor.

"Hey! Where are you going?!" With his looting bag in his mouth, Rad and his partner gave chase after her.

The Pokémon ran back through the twisting and turning hallways of the facility. Using every ounce of muscle in his legs, Rad managed to catch up just behind the speeding Shinx. He then managed a strenuous bound into the air, latching onto the robot's plug tail with his paws.

"Wait!" Rad tried to yell as his clenched teeth remained clamping the loot bag.

"I am sorry," says Dayna. Her head rotated completely to look back at her pursuer. "I cannot have you compromising the mission."

The robot's head remained still as her entire body leapt up, turned around 180 degrees to line up with her head and landed on her feet. Standing still and facing the opposite direction, Dayna's back and face then opened up and shifted around with lightning speed, forming what looked like the end of a cannon.

"Hey!" the Raichu yelped as he was shoved into the robot's open back compartment. After being locked closed, the robot Shinx acted as expected and shot poor Rad out like a cannonball, hurtling him behind his Togedemaru partner. The Pokémon shrieked as he flew away until he met a wall face first and fell down, with obnoxious coincidence, into a waste bin. Dayna reverted to her original form and resumed her escape.

"Rad! Are you okay?!" Barry slid to a stop and returned to his fallen comrade.

"Barry, did you see that?" Rad groaned from inside his trash prison.

"Unfortunately, I did," replied his flustered companion. "I don't believe it either!"

"That is the craziest robot I've ever seen," The Raichu climbed out of the bin after finding his bag. "Let's get outta here!"

The robot Shinx was successful in finding the hole the looting Pokémon went through to enter the abandoned building earlier. Once she was out, Dayna scanned her surroundings as if looking for something she lost. Soon, Rad and Barry finally make it out of the facility. The panting and sweating Pokémon crawled toward the robot, exhausted from the high-speed pursuit.

"Hold— _whew! _Hold it right there!" Rad gasped.

Dayna ignored him again and stood in another bracing position. Her feet suddenly fired jets of bright blue flame out from under them and the Shinx zoomed into the sky, leaving the too-tired-to-be-very-shocked faces behind.

"It… _huff… _It can fly?" The exasperated Raichu wheezed and fell on his face. "Aw, of course it can fly." His words were muffled by the ground.

"This... is not good," Barry peeped.

...

* * *

...

After they escaped from the underground facility, located within a dense nameless forest, Rad the Raichu and Barry the Togedemaru make their way back home. The forest was situated just outside an abandoned town spotted with dilapidated buildings. A few blocks away from the town, a dried up lake reveals a broken underground pipe digging into the parched earth. Large enough for most Pokémon to walk through, the pipe branches off deep into a tremendous open den.

The burrow dubbed "The Lair" was home to a plethora of Pokémon wild, lost and forgotten. Lined up against the den's walls were densely packed towers of cardboard boxes and milk crates stacked high. Holes cut out of the boxes functioned as makeshift doors and windows, making them resemble apartment blocks. The Pokémon occupants cleaned up the "streets" of dirt and grime and passed their time trading junk they have found during their ventures on the outside. Near the entirety of the cave-sized dwelling was fairly lit up thanks to an aging power generator the handier Pikachu and Rowlet residents managed to get working. The living spaces were illuminated with old camping lanterns, discarded Christmas lights and even one of those slightly morbid novelty Magikarp lamps with a pull cord. Rad and Barry stumble through the complex of boxes with their loot from the facility in tow.

"Ah, home sweet hole-in-the-ground," said Rad. "One of these days, I'm gonna run this dump, Barry."

"Uh oh. It's them again," Barry gestured toward an Elekid and Litten walking in their direction.

"Hey, look! It's the fearless explorer!" the Elekid chuckled.

"Find any holes to fall in, Rad?" mocked the Litten.

"Ha. Ha. Real funny guys," Rad leaned in close to Barry's ear as the pestering Pokémon leave past them. "How did they know that?"

"I don't know," whispered Barry. "They must be talking about another hole."

Meanwhile at the other side of the Lair, an Electabuzz stood with his arms crossed in front of a pile of scrap metal and discarded appliances. He watched his Rowlet assistant count coins and sort them into burlap bags.

"Welp, that's almost everyone," the electric Pokémon concluded. "We're just waiting—"

"Hey, Mack!" Rad called out.

"Just waiting on Rad."

The Raichu sauntered up to the organized Pokémon with his tattered sack over his shoulder. "Yo, what's up, chief? How's junk management treating ya?"

"Finally brought something home, Rad?" Mack the Electabuzz scowled.

"I sure did… Behold!" Rad lifted the bag over his head, releasing two snack-sized bags of potato chips and pretzels. "Some of it might be past the 'Best By' date."

Mack held his stoic expression. "What is this?"

"What do you mean 'what is this'? It's food! You're welcome!"

"Food is always needed, Rad, but _your_ _job_ was to go find scrap and spare parts."

"Oh, ye of little faith," the Raichu winked. "I'll have you know, Barry and I found something you might be interested in."

He dug his head into the sack and pulled out the remote device they picked up from the abandoned facility.

"Aahh~" Rad vocalized his best impression of a choir of angels and dropped the item to the floor unceremoniously. "It's a walkie-talkie."

The Electabuzz gestured the Rowlet to take the device over to the pile.

"Hmm… not bad," said Mack. "We could use this to fix the radio."

The Raichu's intact ear drooped. "It's 'not bad'?! C'mon man! This was my biggest haul yet!"

"Yes Rad, but in the matter of just over a month, it's also the _only _haul you've had. You need to do more than just the minimum to live here! Don't you ever think of the community?" Mack gestured to the stray residents of the den. "Everyone needs to contribute their share of work and excursion after excursion, you've managed to come up empty-handed. Honestly, I'm impressed; I don't know how someone can fail so much that number of times."

"Well, I brought something _now!_" Rad exclaimed. "Doesn't that count for anything?"

"It's a start," the Electabuzz boss huffed. "Keep it up and I won't have to save your butt from getting exiled. Understand?"

"Can I just get my pay?" Rad sighed.

The Rowlet assistant obliges and throws a small bag of coins at the Raichu's face.

"Thank you."

...

* * *

...

Barry rested on the dirt dusted ground, waiting for his partner to come back to their cardboard box abode. Their home sat in a corner close to the rest of the Pokémon living quarters. The water damaged walls were decorated with misshapen cut-out windows, lost buttons of assorted sizes and colors and some mediocre crayon art of orange-hued skies and emerald grassy fields. Barry thought a home would look more like home with some pictures on the wall (much to Rad's dismay). At the price of nothing, it was as good as it gets.

Barry hops up from the ground and spots Rad, looking smug, returning with the coins.

"How'd it go?" the Togedemaru asked.

"We've made it, little buddy!" Rad released their pay to his feet. "We almost died, but it was worth it! There's enough to last us almost the whole month. Barry, this calls for a celebration."

The rotund Pokémon smiled wide and rolled into their box house. He returned dragging a saucer of spotted yellow apples, a half-eaten candy bar and bits of discolored fruit rendered nearly unrecognizable.

"Our 'best food' collection won't be lonely for long," Rad took one of the apples and began to eat. "We can finally take a break from dumpster diving."

Before chowing down, Barry looked up at his friend. "Uh, Rad?"

"Hm?" the Raichu acknowledged with his mouth full.

"Shouldn't we tell someone?" Barry asked.

"What? About the robot?"

"Yeah, I mean, should we have really let it go? I can't help but feel a little guilty. What if we just let loose some unspeakable terror onto the world?"

"It's just one little robot, Barry," Rad held his paws up, sizing up the mecha Shinx they encountered. "I think the world will be okay."

"That wasn't just a little robot, Rad! You saw what it could do! What exactly were people doing down there? Why would anyone want to build mechanical Pokémon anyway?"

"I don't know! Humans are sad, sad creatures. There's no point in trying to understand them. I mean, Trainers can be a bit more approachable, but who wants to be loyal to someone who puts you through rigorous training and ceaseless battling?"

"At least humans give them decent food," said Barry meticulously looking over the chunk of "fruit" in his paw. "And a warm bed."

"Hey, we made it this far without human help!" Rad gestured toward the home they made together. "But you do bring up an interesting point. Why are people always trying to one up Pokémon? We're way cooler than any walking talking man-made tin can."

"Even if it's one that can fly and blow up other robots?" Barry commented.

The Raichu gulped in response. It was much easier to say there was nothing they could do to Dayna, a seemingly unstoppable robo Pokémon, from exacting whatever "emergency program" it was proceeding with, but the more he thought of it, the more it irritated him. Mack's words echoed in his head:

_Don't you ever think of the community?... I don't know how someone can fail so much that number of times._

The Raichu looked down at his food and his appetite weakened. The sick feeling was accompanied by an amalgamation of headache-inducing frustration, nauseating guilt and a chest full of burning ambition. He decided enough was enough.

Rad stood up, surprising his colleague, with a stern brow-furrowing look of determination.

"I want to go back," he said. "I'm done disappointing people."

"Back where?" Barry questioned.

"We should go back to the abandoned building and look for something to help us get to Dayna."

The Togedemaru's spikes stood straight. "What?! Are you crazy?! We almost died and now you want to go back there?!"

"I'm not accepting Dayna getting away. What if we were meant to find her in that place? You're right, Barry. We should go find her!" Raichu gleamed and placed his paws on his friend's shoulders (or lack thereof).

"I meant we should get _someone else _to find her!" said Barry. "W-What if there's more homicidal robots down there?!"

"Think about it! When we bring back that homicidal heap of scrap, we can rewire it or whatever and use it to protect the Lair! We won't have to worry about rampaging robots, Mack will be so proud, he'll pay us quadruple of what anyone else makes and we'll be heroes! It's a win-win-win situation!"

If anyone felt bad now, it was Barry. He regretted being the one to bring up killer robots again, but not wanting to dull his friend's newfound selflessness, he supported Rad's idea with some level of reluctance. "Well… that does sound nice..."

"Thanks little buddy! You won't regret this!" Rad grabbed Barry's paw, shaking it up and down and dragged the poor Togedemaru as they darted away from their home.

"Oh… why can't we just live normally?" Barry sighed.

...

* * *

End of Chapter 1

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

**Thank you for reading!**

**I hope you enjoy this little story of mine.**

**If you are enjoying this, please go check out J'LoBuizel and his fanfiction on this site, especially if you like funny stories and Lagomorphshipping. He inspired me to write this story.**

**Thanks again and have a good one! ^_^**


	2. Chapter 2

2

...

Rad the Raichu and Barry the Togedemaru find themselves returning to the mysterious abandoned facility they came across earlier in the day. Every strand of fur on Barry's back shook as he shivered with unease. Part of him hated that he was able to convince Rad to think about Dayna, the robot Shinx on the loose, but he knew supporting his friend was more important than the potential dangers that lie ahead. Or at least, that's what he told himself. In all honesty, the bumbling duo were lucky to leave the facility alive. Now they had to go back? The doubts swelled in Barry's mind as the two searched the first debris filled room they encountered in their previous excursion.

"This is insane. Why did I have to say something? What have we gotten ourselves into?" says the Togedemaru as he looked under a table. He turned to his Raichu friend who was using a flashlight and skimming through stacks of paper. "What exactly are we looking for?"

"Anything that'll help us find Dayna. A name or an address or something," Rad answered. "Before that crazy mecha Shinx left us, she said something about warning somebody."

"Probably who made all these killer robots," Barry whimpered. Just then, he spots a pair of glistening eyes, hidden from the light, right behind the Raichu.

"Uh… Rad?"

"What's up Barry?"

"_**Yaah!"**_ a yellow blur darts out from the darkness and tackles Rad to the ground, forcing him to land on his back. Rad and Barry gasp as the hidden pair of eyes reveals itself to be a Pikachu with a bright orange ribbon on its right ear. The new intruding Pokémon held a sharp rock to the Raichu's neck. It's eyes locked on Rad's eyes in intimidation.

"Whoa! Whoa! Chill out!" Rad shouts with his paws up. "What's your _problem_, dude?! When does a guy just _attack_ someone out of nowhere?!"

"I'm a girl," says the Pikachu.

Rad confirms this by catching sight of the Pikachu's heart shaped tail. She hopped off of him with her rock still pointing at the Raichu.

"One wrong move and you're done for. Now, who are you?" she asks.

"The name's Rad. And this Togedemaru here is my partner, 'Brash Fetchem'."

"Bless you," says Barry.

"Thank you," says Rad. "You can call him 'Barry'. Everyone else does."

"Oh, that's real cute," the Pikachu snarled. She lowered her rock but kept it pointed at the duo. "Name's Liz."

"A Pikachu… named Liz?" Rad turned to his cohort. "Not gonna lie, that wouldn't have been the first name I would've gone for."

"Maybe it's short for Elizabeth," Barry suggested.

"It's _just_ Liz," growled the Pikachu. She glanced at the Raichu's bandages. "Where's the rest of you?"

"Huh? Oh! You mean the cheeks, the ear and missing tail, right?" Rad pointed. "Well, long story short, I lost them in an epic battle with a…"

Rad turned to his Togedemaru partner who rolled his eyes.

"...a Bewear! Yeah! That thing chewed me up—"

"Forget it. I've heard enough," Liz the Pikachu raised her paw. "To be frank, I don't really care who you are, but you're not supposed to be here. You and your little friend are trespassing."

"Oh yeah?" Rad raised his brow. "What about you?"

Without warning, Liz hurls her rock at a panel on the wall. Rad and Barry flinch as the ceiling hums and the lights within the facility room flicker on.

Barry's jaw dropped. "Wait… Are you telling me there was still power in this place?!"

"You never tried turning on the lights?" Liz shrugged.

The Todegemaru glared at his Raichu comrade.

"How was I supposed to know they still had power?" Rad defended.

Liz surveyed the now lit up room. Now that everyone can see every part of it, the room was revealed to be even more disheveled and torn apart then before. Beside the flipped furniture and broken computers were scorch marks, gaping holes in the walls and oil stained floor tiles. "Looks like they're still running on the backup generator. Knowing that much, it's likely there's a couple hours of light left."

Putting the blame on his faulty flashlight batteries, Rad wondered how he missed the wall's big red letters that read:

"_Apollo"._

Rad pointed at the new sight. "What the heck is _'Apollo'_?"

"You didn't know this was an Apollo facility? What were you idiots doing down here?!" Liz eyes the Raichu's torn leather sleeve jacket. "Oh. You're scavengers aren't you?"

"Hey, 'scavengers' is a strong word," says Rad. "We're more like… uh… like treasure hunters!"

"Yeah, right," Liz walked toward the end of the room to the only open door. The same door Rad and Barry ran through to escape their mechanical Pokémon pursuers.

Barry's spikes stood out. "I wouldn't go there if I were you. There might be killer robots down there!"

"There _were _robots," Liz turned back to the two. "They're prototypes made by Apollo's engineers. Someone or something must've activated them, drove out the humans and left behind nothing but burned debris. And what's worse, one of their most powerful experiments is missing."

Rad and Barry shared a nervous glance.

"A missing ro—?" Barry began to speak but was interrupted by Rad who slapped his paw over his partner's mouth.

"How do you know all this?" the Raichu asked the Pikachu.

Liz looked back at the name on the wall. "I… I used to be a part of Apollo. I was one of the many research Pokémon used to help them develop their machines."

Rad freed his paw from Barry's mouth, shaking it away to let him speak. "What were they doing down here?"

"Nothing good, unfortunately," says Liz. "These labs were run by a man named Apollo Simmons. He and the Simmons family are planning to create a market for Pokémon robots. For people who can't catch real Pokémon. But I know first hand, they're not good people. What Apollo really wants to do is make robots that are indistinguishable from the real thing. Only stronger. Then they can sell them off as weapons."

"Wow. That _is _pretty bad. No wonder you have it out for this Apollo guy," says Rad.

"Apollo has a daughter named Hadie," Liz turned to Rad with a tear barely forming in her eye. "I was _her _Pikachu. She convinced her family to take me in. It was the first time I spent with a human who wasn't trying to run an experiment on me. She's such a sweet girl. Of course, it didn't last long. I was just another research Pokémon after all. After they saw how I got along with Hadie, they eventually replaced me with…"

"...A robot?"

Liz shot the Raichu a stern look.

"Sorry to hear that," Rad lamented.

"Before you two came by, I was looking for the controller the engineers were using to operate the experiments. That device is our only hope at stopping Apollo Labs from hurting anyone."

"Maybe we can help you find this controller device thing," Barry suggested. "What does it look like?"

Liz furrowed her brows. "Ordinarily, I would've had to eliminate you for interrupting my plan to stop these mad men, but since you two _are_ scavengers, maybe you'll be useful to me after all."

"Treasure hunters," Rad corrected.

"Have you or any of your friends seen a device with red and black buttons and an antenna?"

Rad and Barry looked back at each other and swallowed. She just described the device they handed over to Mack back at their home.

"You mean… a walkie-talkie?" said Rad.

"What are you talking about?" the Pikachu questioned.

"We took a thing like that back to our den, ma'am," Barry tried his best not to shake, but the thought that they may have handed over a dangerous device to the denizens of the Lair made the Togedemaru quiver.

"So now, scavengers, thieves and other assorted ne'er do-wells can take the controller from this den of yours?" Liz took notice of the duo's odd behavior. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this rampaging robot incident, would you?"

Rad looked away from the Pikachu and wrung his paws. "Well... uh… we _may_ have turned on a... robot Shinx."

"_**What?!**_ Are you out of your _mind_?! Where is it now?!"

"We don't know. We tried to stop it, but it flew away," said Barry.

Liz stomped toward them. "Do you two have _any_ idea what you've done?! You trespass, destroy millions worth of Apollo Labs property and now an autonomous Pokémon is running amok in public. This place was hidden underground for a reason, you filthy scavengers!"

"Well, if you and your human friends didn't want this place discovered, maybe you shouldn't have made it so easy to find!" Rad retorted.

Barry raised his paw. "I thought you said you found this place when you fell in that hole— _**Ow!"**_

The Raichu promptly bumped the Togedemaru upside the head. "Heh, that's uh… not the _complete_ story."

Liz tugged down on Rad's neck so his eyes were level with hers. "Shut up and listen to me. If you don't bring that controller back immediately, I'll make sure everyone knows that the utter annihilation of the free world is all your fault and I will hunt you down and I _will _make you pay. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say," Rad complied as best he could while Liz nearly blocked his airways.

The Pikachu released her grip, causing Rad to fall on his face. "Good."

...

* * *

...

In the Lair, a scavenger's job was to bring food, materials and other useful resources they were assigned to get from the abandoned towns and forests close to where the cave dwelling Pokémon reside. Once the teams of scavengers come back home, they leave their recovered loot in the supply room where all of the Lair's shared resources are stored. This included the device Rad returned with earlier: The robot controller. All that separated Rad and Barry from the controller was rusted recycled chain link fence, moldy wooden boards and a Lycanroc with brown fur snoozing next to a doorway fashioned from an old doggy door.

"Check it out!" Rad lowered his voice. "Murphy's sound asleep! Now's the perfect chance!"

"I dunno, Rad," Barry whimpered. "This could get us in _serious_ trouble."

"Yeah, but if we don't do anything, a killer robot's gonna wreak havoc on the world! Not to mention that girl Pikachu's gonna kick my butt," Rad kept his head low while tugging Barry along by his paw. "We'll get in and out as soon as possible. It shouldn't take us but a few seconds."

Meanwhile across the way, the Elekid and Litten that bothered Rad before were walking by.

"One of these days, I'm gonna run this dump," the Elekid said to no one in particular.

The Litten did a double take as he spots the Raichu and Togedemaru in the distance. "Hey! Is that Rad and Barry?"

The Elekid squinted at the duo. "It _is_ them! What the heck are they doing?"

"I don't know," the Litten grinned to his comrade. "But I think they're in serious trouble." The electric and fire Pokémon run off cackling.

Back at the supplies, Rad and Barry searched high and low for the device. They moved as swift as they could but remained quiet enough as to not alert anyone, especially the Lycanroc guard.

"This isn't really a supply room as it is a place we just dump everything we find," Rad stumbled through a pile of copper wires, old batteries and various non-descript devices with broken screens.

To say that the Lair's supplies were neatly organized would be a slight exaggeration. Food, wood and metal were separated into three sections. Some wooden shelves to the back kept food like fruit and vegetables off the ground. Anything else that didn't fit were placed in between the piles. Further means to sort them went out the window.

"Any luck Barry?" Rad stood over rusted stacks of corrugated steel. He noticed that his friend was digging in a cardboard box close by the wood section. He called out to the Togedemaru while keeping his voice down. "It's not gonna be over there! Search over _here_!"

The Raichu stepped off the steel and looked back at the door. He was only able to see the tail of Murphy the Lycanroc. It remained still as the wolf Pokémon slept.

_Crunch!_

Rad jumps in place. His good ear points to the ceiling as the Raichu is startled by a sudden crunching sound.

_Crunch!_

"Barry, is that you?" Getting worried, Rad turns around to check on his friend.

"Is what me?" the Togedemaru pokes his head out of the box he was in, holding an open bag of pretzels. His cheeks were speckled with crumbs.

"What the heck are you doing, Barry?!" Rad slapped his paw on his forehead. "That's _not _what we came for!"

"Sorry, I got hungry," Barry took another bite of pretzel.

_Crunch!_

"_Sshh! _You'll wake Murphy!" the Raichu pulls his snacking accomplice out of the box. They proceed to the shelves in the back to continue their search.

"Hey! Up there!" Barry points up and Rad's eyes follow. On the highest shelf, six feet off the ground, the robot controller sat next to a dirt ridden ancient radio.

Rad was about to leap and cheer but he remembered that the guard was still asleep, so he stopped himself. "Nice work, pal. Wait here and keep watch. I'll get the device."

Found by the Lair dwelling Pokémon, the wooden shelf was stripped of paint and reinforced with duct tape. The most resourceful and experienced Pokémon took care to rebuild it, but sitting out in trash has left significant wear on the wood.

Rad crawled up the shelves, making use of the boxes and knick knacks as footholds. Barry took turns staring at his friend, back at the door and at Rad again. It wasn't until Rad started getting higher and closer to the device that Barry got excited.

"Almost there," Barry tried his best not to chatter his teeth as the Raichu finally gets to the top most shelf.

Besides the device, the radio and a few other things, the shelf was occupied by several large cardboard boxes that prevented Rad from climbing up onto the very top. He held the edge of the highest shelf with his front paws, stood on the lower shelf with his feet and shuffled his way toward the controller. But as soon as he got there, Rad paused in realization. How was he going to get it down? _What I would give for a tail right now, _he thought, remembering his missing appendage. He'll just have to hold onto it all the way down. As the Raichu reached out to grab the controller, the wood shelf he was stepping on creaked and groaned. Rad paused again to let the noise die down and leaned over to snatch the prize.

_**Crack!**_

"_Aah!"_ The shelf under the Raichu's feet gave way and Rad got the device dangling in his right paw while holding onto the shelf with his other.

"Rad!" Barry yelped.

"I'm fine, but the controller's slipping!" Rad's paw held on for as long as he could before it finally falls out.

"_I got it!" _Thinking quickly, Barry leapt forward with his bag of pretzels wide open. Fortunately, the device lands perfectly inside, cushioned by the Togedemaru's leftovers.

Rad wiped his brow with his free paw. "Whew! Nice job, little buddy! Now, I just gotta… carefully… climb down— Oops!" Rad tries to find another foothold but ends up kicking a glass bottle off by accident.

Barry gasps as he drops the device and catches the bottle before it shatters.

"Heh, sorry about that," Rad chuckles.

Thankfully, Rad was able to make his way to the ground without any more mishaps. Barry cleaned the crumbs off the robot controller.

"I wonder if anyone figured out what it was supposed to be," he says.

"So what? We gotta get it back to Liz, remember?" Rad led the way out of the supply room before noticing that the Lycanroc was missing from his post outside the door.

"This isn't good. Murphy's gone!" the Raichu and Togedemaru make a break for the Lair's exit.

"Let's get outta here before—"

"Before you get away?"

Rad and Barry turn their heads to the right. The Elekid and Litten returned and were accompanied by Mack, Murphy and many other denizens of the Lair.

"You see, Mack?" said the Elekid, "I told you they were stealing stuff from the Lair!"

Mack only sighed and shook his head in dismay.

"Oh, poop," said Rad.

...

* * *

...

Rad and Barry stood in the center of a small room hidden away near the back of the Lair. Their paws were tied together with nylon rope and behind them were several small rocks lined up in rows. Usually, these rocks acted like seats for spectating Pokémon, but today, no one was present. In front of them was a towering cardboard box with the words _"This Side Up"_ crossed out with black marker. Above the chicken scratch were new words that read: _"Judge's Podium. Do Not Remove.''_ Beside the haphazard podium was a Torracat standing at attention. His face bore tiny scratches around his nose which accompanied a stoic frown.

"All rise for the honorable Judge Jackson," the Torracat announced.

Rad and Barry exchanged glances. "Uh… we're already standing," said the Raichu.

"I don't think you're in a position to talk, Rad!" squealed a small voice.

Taking his position at the top of the makeshift podium was a Pachirisu armed with a pink and yellow toy hammer. The squirrel-like Pokémon wore a ball of tangled white yarn on top of his head.

Rad's jaw dropped. "Jackie?! From the scavenger's training camp? You're the judge?! What happened to Mack?!"

"That's your honorable Judge Jackson to you!" The Pachirisu hammered his "gavel" against the box podium. The sounds produced from the toy were not intimidating echoing or knocking but unimpressive squeaks and whistles.

"Oh, great. The power's gone to his head," said Rad as he looked at his Togedemaru friend. "Remember when Mack volunteered him to play the starving wild Pokémon in that foraging exercise? And we pummeled him with rotten fruit?"

Rad cackled at his camp memory while Barry did his best to stifle any giggling.

"_Silence!"_ the Judge commanded. "Court is now in session. Rad and Barry, you've been accused of stealing from the Lair's supply room. How do you plead?"

Rad let out a snicker under his breath.

"Hey! What's so funny?!" the Judge shouts as he repeatedly banged his "gavel".

"I'm sorry," Rad chuckled. "It's just… I'm really getting a kick out of seeing Jackie as a judge. I mean, what is _that _on your head?"

"It's a judge's wig, you idiot! _And you're supposed to address me as your honorable Judge Jackson!"_

"We better do as he says, Rad," Barry whispered. "We can't get exiled, remember?"

Rad nodded his head. "All right. All right. I'm done. Where were we?"

"You've been accused of stealing stuff from the Lair," Jackie repeated. "I hope you plead the right thing now, gentlemen. Need I remind the court of the trouble you've caused? Or that you two are sworn under oath?!"

"We haven't sworn anything yet," Barry noted.

"Yeah and whatcourt are you talking about?! It's just us here!" Rad's voice bounced off the walls of the empty room. "How do you even know we—"

"Ah, ah, ah..." Jackie interrupted. "You have to formally address me first."

"Well, mister Judge Jackson—"

"_Ahem! _'your honorable'..."

Rad rolled his eyes. "Your _honorable_ Judge Jackson, I wish I could help you, really, but I have to ask. How do you know we caused any trouble?"

Now it was Jackie's turn to chuckle. "We have pictures." He pointed to his left where a Rowlet assistant, the same one who was helping Mack earlier, holding a digital camera.

Rad widened his eyes and drooped his good ear. "You little tattletail," he growled.

Jackie smiled a menacing smile and clapped his paws. "Bailiff, the pictures please."

"You're not gonna make us sit through a slideshow, are you?" asked Rad.

"Aren't we supposed to give our plea _before _you present evidence?" says Barry.

"_Order! _That means _**shut up!"**_ barked the Pachirisu judge.

The Rowlet passed the camera to the Torracat who proceeded to navigate through the on-screen menu using the device's oblong buttons. Minutes pass and the Bailiff has yet to come up with the evidence.

Jackie's smile dropped as he grew impatient. "Anytime _today _would be good, Bailiff!"

"Ugh, I can't find the pictures in this menu!" says the Torracat bailiff.

The Judge pointed to the camera with his toy gavel. "You have to push the play button! It's the one with the triangle on it!"

"I did!"

"No! That's the skip button!"

"I'm doing the best I can, your honor!" hissed the Torracat. "I have paws after all!"

"Uh… You by any chance happen to still have the manual somewhere?" Rad turned to walk out of the room. "I can find it for you. Be right back."

"_**You stay right there!" **_the Pachirisu judge hollered. Needless to say, his squeaky voice did him a disservice.

Not wanting to dig them into a deeper hole, Rad grumbled and returned to his original position in front of the podium.

"There! Got it!" the Torracat showed the first picture to the duo on trial.

"Finally!" The digital camera's screen displayed a still image of Rad and Barry relaxing on a fruit filled wagon being pulled by Jackie.

"This, my dear Pokémon, is the hard evidence," Jackie declared, gesturing his hammer to the camera. "Exhibit A: Rad and Barry lazing about while we do all the hard work."

"That's an unflattering image," Rad commented.

The Torracat pressed a button and a new image appeared. In the picture, Rad and Barry are laughing as they lay a branch in the path of Jackie, an Elekid and a Litten, causing them to trip.

"Exhibit B: Rad and Barry being a general nuisance to the community," Jackie describes. "Exhibit C!"

Another new image is shown. This picture shows Rad, Barry _and_ the Rowlet assistant posing in front of an asleep Jackie. A moustache and monocle were drawn on his face with stink lines and various other doodles on his torso.

"_What the-?!"_ Jackie's fur stands up in surprise. "I've never seen that picture before!"

Rad and Barry couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"_**I will have order in my court!"**_ Jackie fumed. He jumped off the podium and swiped the camera away, taking another look at the photo. "Wait a minute… If Mack's assistant is there with you, _who _took the picture?!"

The Torracat looked away and whistled an innocent sounding tune.

"Now _that's _a photo!" Rad laughed and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Can I get a copy of that?"

"_**Forget the pictures!" **_Jackie tossed the camera to the other side of the room. "The point I'm trying to get across here is that, along with _stealing _communal supplies, Rad and Barry have done more harm than good to the Lair and should be _**exiled!"**_

"We weren't stealing! We needed that device to help save everyone!" Rad defended.

"And I thought you're supposed to be an _impartial_ judge!" Barry added.

Rad flashed a smug grin. "Yeah, your honorable _Fudge_ Jackson! Besides, how do you know that's me and Barry and not some other Raichu and Togedemaru?"

"Oh, I don't know, Rad," Jackie replied in a condescending tone. "How about because _this_ Raichu is missing an ear, a tail and is wearing a _stupid_ leather jacket?!"

Rad realized this and grumbled to himself. "Curse my epic sense of fashion."

The judge Pokémon climbed onto his podium. "I'd be really worried if I was you."

"If you were me, you'd be about ten times cooler because I'm not wearing a dumb-looking wig," said Rad.

"_**For the last time, what do you plead?!" **_the Pachirisu shouts and assaults his cardboard box with his squeaky hammer.

"Even if we told you, you wouldn't believe us!"

"Bailiff…" Jackie clapped his hands twice. The Torracat that once was at Jackie's side leaped into the air and landed in front of Rad and Barry. Baring his teeth, the bailiff snarled with a mean gleam in his eye.

Jackie smirked at the distressed duo and crossed his arms. "Now, if you want to leave in one piece, I'd suggest you explain your thievery. Oh, and do it _without _the sarcasm."

Rad hesitated. This wasn't going anywhere. They needed to get the controller back to Liz as soon as possible.

"Look, you want the truth?! That walkie-talkie _wasn't_ a walkie-talkie! It's a device that controls robots! There's a homicidal robot Shinx out there and if we don't use the controller to stop it, that mechanical menace and it's creators will take over the world! ...Or something of that nature."

"A homicidal… robot Shinx?" Jackie repeated.

"I know! I know it sounds crazy! Heck, Shinx aren't even from around here, but I know what I see when I see it!"

"I saw it too, your honor!" Barry added. "It had lasers and everything! You see, we found a secret lab and it was filled with these weird robots that tried to kill us!"

For the first time, Jackie looked distraught as he considered the duo's words. A look of fear was brief before his scowl returned. "And you expect us to believe you?"

"We can show you the lab! It'll prove everything!" Rad pleaded.

Jackie paused again. Rad hadn't seen him in this much thought before. Finally, he turned to the Torracat. "Bailiff, get Mack over here. And take these two outside."

Rad and Barry's faces lit up as they were escorted out.

"They believe us! They really believe us!"

"Y'see, Barry?" Rad winked. "We're not getting exiled."

...

* * *

...

"_**We're getting exiled?!"**_

Rad and Barry are waiting a few feet away from the pipe entrance of the Lair. Jackie, the Torracat bailiff and many other Pokémon block the way in.

"I'm afraid so, gentlemen," says Jackie. His voice was on the verge of sounding scornful. "Mack and the other chief Pokémon talked about it and they agreed that your exile was the best decision for the Lair."

"But what about showing them the lab?!" said Barry.

"I tried to convince them, but they insisted," Jackie shrugs, doing his best to sound genuine. "I mean, you gotta admit that robot story was pretty creative. Ah, well. Goodbye and good luck guys."

The Pachirisu turned around to go back inside the cave. A few other Pokémon followed, saying their goodbyes.

"Jackie, you little vermin! What did you tell them?!" Rad shouts after him.

"Nice robot story, nerds! See ya!" the Elekid rival waved.

"Wouldn't want to be ya!" mocked his Litten friend.

"You... but we… they…" Rad stuttered as the rest of the Lair dwellers returned to their homes. The Raichu's ear droops as the reality of the situation finally sets in.

"This can't be happening! We can't be exiled!" Barry paced back and forth. "What will my mother say?!"

"We found you, by yourself, taking shelter from the rain under a tree, Barry," Rad deadpanned. "I don't think you'll be seeing your mother anytime soon."

His pacing friend stopped in his tracks. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. Even if my family _were_ here, I wouldn't want them to see me like this."

"Rad! Barry!" the Raichu and Togedemaru turn their heads toward the Lair's entrance to see Mack the Electabuzz with the robot controller in his hands.

"Mack! Oh, thank goodness you're here!" Rad cheered. "And you brought the robot thingy! Did you tell them to let us back in?"

"No."

Rad pumped his fist in the air. "All right! Thanks Mack, you're the— wait what?"

Mack tosses the controller to the Raichu. "Take your trash and leave, Rad. Is it really worth more than your integrity? I tried helping you. I told you and Barry again and again to clean up your act and you go trying to pull off stealing from the Lair? Making up crazy stories to get yourselves out of trouble? You've gone too far this time. You are _incredibly _lucky we couldn't use that piece of junk."

"Mack, you don't understand!" Rad shook the device in his paws. "I'm not crazy! I needed to take this back or we'll _all _be in trouble!"

"He's telling the truth, sir!" Barry chimed in. "If you just come with us, we could show you ourselves!"

"I'm afraid I'll have to pass," Mack scowled. "I have a den to look after."

"Are you serious?" Rad asked.

Mack didn't answer. He turned his back to the duo and returned inside the dark damp pipe.

"No! Mack wait!" Rad called out.

Still no answer.

The Raichu and Togedemaru were officially banished from their only home.

Rad sat forlorn on the dusty ground and stared at the controller device. "He's right. I didn't help anyone at the Lair. Everything I've done was only for my own benefit. They greeted me with open arms and I bit the paw that fed me. I should've listened to Mack sooner. Then they'd trust me more and they'd believe me."

"You helped me, Rad," Barry put his paw on his pal's back. "I mean, granted, we only became friends after that time you kicked me like a ball at Jackie, knocking him into the supply room."

"Oh, yeah," The fond memory gave Rad enough strength to smile. "And as punishment, we both had to clean up the mess. And we eventually got tired of cleaning so we fought each other with our dusters! Mack got _so_ mad!"

The guys shared a warm laugh. A brief respite from their dire situation.

Rad's smile fell and he turned to his partner. "I'm sorry I got us exiled, Barry."

"I'm sorry I convinced you to go back to that freaky robot infested place," said Barry. "We really blew it this time."

"You realize what we have to do now right?"

"Cry and beg them to let us back in?"

"Yes, cry and— I mean _n__o!" _Rad tucked the controller under his arm and pointed behind them. "We're going to bring this what-cha-ma-call-it back to Liz, get that dumb robot, drag it here, kicking and screaming if we have to and _then..._ we'll beg them to let us back in."

"We _literally_ have nothing to lose," the Togedemaru took a deep breath. "All right. Let's give it a shot."

...

* * *

...

"Yo, Liz! We got the thingy!" Rad and Barry find themselves, for the third time, in the hidden robot laboratory. The first room had its lights off due to the backup power generator finally giving out.

"Quick! Bring it over here!" Liz the Pikachu stood in the center of the space, gesturing with a flashlight.

Rad hands the robot controller over to her. "We're Pokémon of our word, Liz. How's that for a couple of scavengers— er, treasure hunters?"

Liz inspected the device's condition. Everything seemed to be in order, save a few odd looking granules found by some of the buttons. "Is that salt?"

"Sorry. It got into a bag of pretzels," Barry explained.

"Yeah, I don't want to know," Liz pressed a few buttons on the controller. "Let's see if it works."

All of a sudden, the lights of about a hundred Raichu shaped robots blinked on as they stood behind the Pikachu. Some looked brand new while others appeared to be hastily put together and rusted.

"_**Aah!" **_ the Raichu and the Togedemaru shrieked.

"Watch out, Liz!" Barry pointed. "There's more robots!"

"Yes there are," Liz had a smirk on her face. "Turns out, not all of the robots were destroyed."

"Wait a minute," Rad realized right away that something was off. "Shouldn't we be destroying these things? What's going on?"

"We're not destroying anything yet. Now I'll bring this little army right to Apollo's door. Those robot obsessed mad men won't know what hit them."

"What do you mean?" Barry asked. "Are you going to hurt them?"

"Of course I am, you idiots!" Liz spat. "They're going to pay for taking me away from Hadie and they're going to pay hard!"

"Hold on, Liz," Rad intervened. "I know you said these people are bad, but we didn't think you were actually going to _seriously_ hurt them. I thought the point of controlling the robots was making sure _no one _got happened to just trying to stop them from creating more robo Pokémon? And what about the Shinx that escaped?!"

"You've done a good job, gentlemen," the Pikachu grew a malicious grin. "But I won't be needing you anymore."

She presses another button and all the robot Raichu's cheeks began to spark electricity with fierce intensity.

"Say 'goodnight' boys," Liz taunted.

_"Liz! No!"_

Before Rad and Barry could react, the mechanical Pokémon unleash their attack and the real Raichu and Togedemaru's vision goes dark.

...

* * *

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

3

...

Jackie the Pachirisu, along with his cohorts Elekid and Litten, stood against the wall of the Lair's communal supply room chatting amongst each other. They were sipping on boxes of apple juice while Mack the Electabuzz and his Rowlet assistant took inventory of the food and wooden and metal resources they had recently gathered. The Owl-like Pokémon wrote down numbers with a shard of chalk on a cracked slate.

The Elekid snorts as he bounces in place. "C,mon, Jackie! Do it again! Do it again!"

The Pachirisu clears his throat and lowers his voice in an attempt to mimic Rad the Raichu. "A homicidal robot attacked us! I swear guys, it really happened!"

The three let out an uproarious fit of laughter with juice threatening to shoot out their nostrils.

"Oh man, it's been _so _awesome ever since Rad and Barry were exiled," Jackie jeers.

"I know, right?" says the Elekid. "We finally get to enjoy juice in peace!"

"No more annoying schemes or dumb pranks to ruin our day," the Litten sighs as the trio tap their drinks together.

"Good riddance! I was sick of that smug Raichu and his bumbling partner," the Pachirisu took a swig. "He thinks he's so cool with his frayed jacket and his missing cheeks and tail."

"Huh… Hey, Mack! What really happened to Rad anyway?" the Elekid turns to the Electabuzz. "How did he get all mangled up again?"

Mack took a deep sigh. "I already told you guys, a bolt of lightning hit him. I found Rad unconscious while out on a scavenging expedition and carried him back to the Lair."

"A lightning bolt ripped off his cheeks, ear and tail, huh? Yeah right!" Litten sneered.

"Yeah! Nobody believes that story!" says the Elekid.

"That's my story and I'm sticking to it," Mack replies.

Paying no heed to the Electabuzz's words, the juice drinking Pokémon cackled up a storm and left to return home from the inventory check. As soon as they were out of earshot, Mack glances toward his Rowlet sidekick who looks back with a blank emotionless stare.

"What?" Mack asks. "I've been in countless thunderstorms. I know what lightning strike burns look like. I couldn't leave his sorry butt out in the rain, that's for sure."

The Rowlet says nothing but keeps staring back with his unnerving deep black eyes.

"I wasn't too hard on them," the Electabuzz huffed. "Rad and Barry needed to be taught a lesson. One way or another, they'll learn."

Mack pauses and relaxes his frustrated frown.

"Doesn't mean I don't worry about them. I mean, yeah, their robot story was pretty insane but part of me kinda wants to hear them out. It's especially difficult to believe when those two are involved. Ever since Rad and Barry became friends, they've been squandering their potential and keep messing up the simplest of tasks. Still… I can't help but wonder how they're holding up."

The Rowlet cocked his head to the side and tucked his chalk notes under his wing.

"Yeah… it _is _Rad and Barry we're talking about," Mack walked with his assistant out of the supply room. "I wouldn't be surprised if they were bumming it just outside the Lair. We're bound to catch them lying around somewhere."

...

* * *

...

Rad the Raichu and Barry the Togedemaru lay passed out on the chilly concrete floor of a room in the underground robot laboratory. The duo rested motionless with singed fur and dark bruises left on their bodies. Fortunately, they eventually come to, groggy and groaning in pain in response to their pulsating headaches.

"Ugh... I think they fried my brain," Rad rubs his sore cranium as he sits up.

"Where... are we?" Barry opens his eyes to discover that he was laying on his back with his feet in the air.

They observed their surroundings to see a familiar metal box open under a desk. The dazed Raichu picks up a nearby clipboard. "We're back in Dayna's room. What the heck happened?"

Barry rocked his round body back and forth in order to make his feet touch the ground again. "Liz and those mechanical Pokémon must have left us here after they knocked us out and got away with the robot controller."

"Liz?" the Raichu slapped his forehead. "Argh! That crazy Pikachu! I can't believe she did that to us. That's what I get for trying to help someone."

There was no sign of the rogue Pikachu and her impromptu battalion of Poké-bots.

"What should we do?" asked the dizzy Togedemaru. "We have no idea where they went."

Rad sighed in exasperation. "I don't know. What's the point in trying anymore? A weird Shinx is on the loose, we get exiled because no one believes us and now an insane Pikachu has an army of deadly robots! We can't do anything!"

In his fit of frustration, Rad throws the clipboard away. The board deflected off while reverberating the metal panels, hitting the floor, wall and ceiling in succession before coming back to hit the Raichu right in the face. He is knocked flat on his back, returning to the dusty ground.

Barry ran to his fallen friend. "You all right?"

"Hold on," Rad held the clipboard up to get a better look at something written on the back. He reads:

"_Property of Alice Warner. If found, please return to this address…_ Who's Alice Warner?"

Once he heard the name, Barry's ears stood straight up. "Wait a minute, that's it! Do you remember before Dayna left us she mentioned something about 'Warner'? She must've been talking about this person!"

Rad squinted at his partner then back at the board. "Dayna?... Oh my gosh, you're right! If this really is who that robot is looking for, then we gotta find this Alice person as soon as possible!"

Barry pushed his comrade back on his feet. "Well, we got a name and an address. The only question I have is… _how_ will we get there?"

...

* * *

...

Making their way out of the lab, Rad and Barry end up at a lone dirt road at the outer edge of the nameless forest. They catch sight of a single Pidgeotto, a bird-like Pokémon, preening its feathers on a high tree branch.

"Hey you!" Rad called out to the avian stranger.

The Raichu produced a small torn piece of paper from his jacket and read the scratchy pen marks that was Alice's address. While they both could read somewhat well, neither Rad nor Barry had much experience writing. In the end, Barry tried his best to doodle something remotely similar to legible words in order to keep track of their destination.

"Could you help us out, real quick?" Rad asked. "We're looking for a place called… Tail… Len? _Tailynne Town?"_

"Oh, that place? It's about a few miles or so that way," the Pidgeotto extended his left wing, pointing down the road leading to the north. "There's a big ol' sign right outside the town, can't miss it. If you reach the mountains, you've gone too far. I wouldn't go to Mount Neuron anyway."

"Uh, thanks," Rad nodded, putting the scrap of paper back in his sleeve.

"A few miles?" Barry repeated. "Do you think you can give us a lift or something?"

"Don't bother me," the Pidgeotto spat before flying off.

"Hey!"

Rad nudges his associate to the road. "Forget him Barry. We can walk there. We're finding Alice's place if it takes us all day."

The Pokémon commenced their impromptu journey; a trip that takes them further away from their former home then they had ever gone. Soon, the first mile had passed and Rad was already regretting their decision to walk. Besides the occasional berry bush and trickling stream, the Raichu and Togedemaru had little to sustain themselves.

After spending some time on the road, a thought occurred to Barry. He asked his friend why they didn't just ask Mack for the robot controller instead of sneaking in the supply room. Rad tells him that the Electabuzz wouldn't have approved of the idea anyway. The Raichu didn't exactly have the best reputation around his boss. Besides slacking off in his scavenging tasks, Rad had his paw's share of mischief at the Lair, pulling pranks and chatting it up with the other Pokémon while there was still work to be done. Now for the one time he needed to be serious, no one would listen to him.

As the vibrant orange sun was starting to set, the strenuous trek to the town was meeting its end. Rad and Barry discovered a distinct ornate sign next to the road. The name "Tailynne Town" was painted in a bright white color embossed on a cherry red background. It was a quaint village spotted with brick cottages and stout buildings set away from the lonely dirt road. The sun soon passes the horizon and the sparse human population turns in and flick their home lights on.

Barry's ears perk up as his nose catches an alluring scent emanating from one of the buildings. "Whoa! Do you smell that?"

Rad sniffed the air and turned to his left. Sure enough, the source of the warm waft was a bakery situated further into the village. As enticing as the smells were and despite being pretty hungry himself, Rad insisted that they shouldn't be distracted. "Quit thinking about food. They're probably closing up shop anyway. We gotta keep going."

"Yeah, you're right.," Barry responded.

The duo reaches the far end of town. The dim glow of the full moon reaches its apex, casting its light onto a petite pale cream colored building. Adorned with a copper tinged roof and healthy plants and assorted flowers all around the outside, the cottage was surrounded by brick walls and a steel gate. Barry's eyes find a worn plaque by the entrance that confirms the address.

"Here it is. Alice Warner's place," the Togedemaru wheezes, taking slower steps toward his friend. "Whew! That was a… long hike."

"Finally! Let's get that robot!" Rad goes up to the metal gate and gives it a shake. As expected, it refused to budge. The Raichu steps backward and gestures to Barry. "It's locked. Looks like we'll have to climb. You first, buddy."

Barry lets out a heavy sigh and starts ascending. With his body between the brick wall and gate, he shuffles upward. The Togedemaru's mouth quivered and ears twitched as he went.

"Am I there yet?" Barry whimpered with his eyes shut.

"You're only a few inches off the ground," said Rad.

The Togedemaru's awkward shaking made him lose his grip and he slipped off, squeaking as he hit the dirt. "Aw, I can't do it! My limbs are too short."

"Hm, you're right," Rad taps his chin. There must be some way we can get over…"

The Raichu donned a mischievous grin and walked a few feet away from the entrance, pointing at the sky above the house. "Hey Barry, can you come over here and look at this?"

Barry waddled over and squinted where his friend was looking. "What is it?"

In one swift motion, Rad punted the poor round Pokémon over the wall like a football.

"_**Aiee!"**_

Barry flew well past the gate and bounded off the ground a few times before coming to rest on the soft trimmed grass. Rad, meanwhile, had little to no trouble scaling the brick wall on his own and soon reunited with his friend. "So… how was your flight?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to do that?!" Barry barked.

"Because I knew you'd say something if I did," Rad answered. "At least we're both on this side now. All that's left to do is find—"

Just then, a quick but steady stream of air blows through, almost knocking the Pokémon off their feet.

Dayna, the mechanical Shinx, lands before Rad and Barry; the robot's feet hit the ground with a resounding thud. The kicked up dust settles and the Shinx's bulb eyes lit the scene.

"Ack! H-Have mercy!" Barry pleaded, cowering behind Rad's back.

"'_Mercy' _is an acceptable command," Dayna chirps. "Scans indicate that you are previous operators of this unit. Are you my friends: operators Rad and Barry?"

Rad raised his clenched paws and took a fighting stance. "Listen here you heap of scrap, you're coming with us and... Wait. Did you call us... _friends_?"

Dayna tilts her head at the duo.

"Following operator Barry's advice, I have implemented 'friends' into my vocabular database. My record of our previous encounter underground has calculated that you are reckless but incompetent and pose no threat to Alice Warner or her associates. As long as you do not interfere with the mission, we can be — as you put it — '_friends'_."

"Mission?" Barry repeated.

"What do you mean _incompetent?" _the Raichu glared at the Shinx.

"Uh, what Rad meant to say was thank you! Thank you for not killing us!" the Togedemaru flopped to the ground in front of Dayna like he was worshipping an idol.

"Get up, Barry. You're embarrassing us," Rad hoisted him up by his paw and turned to the robot. "It seems like we're all looking for Alice Warner, right? How about instead of hurting each other, we try to find out what's going on with this _mission _of yours?"

"Harming operators is neither productive nor valid commands within my command protocol," Dayna turns toward the house. "It is advisable that operators Rad and Barry come inside."

"Also, you can stop with the 'operator' talk," said Rad. "Just Rad and Barry is fine."

"Change to nomenclature accepted," Dayna responds. "I will log your feedback and adapt accordingly."

"Wait a minute guys," says Barry. "If this really is Ms. Alice's home, then there has to be some sort of security system. I don't think we could get in—"

Dayna emitted a sharp beeping sound and the door to the home cracked open on its own.

"...that easily."

"Now we're talking!" Rad follows the Shinx bot into the house while dragging his hesitant comrade along.

...

* * *

...

The Pokémon made their way through the front door and entered the foyer of Alice Warner's home. The moonlight piercing the windows was the only source of illumination the house had. Walking in, the living room is the first to be seen.

Even in the shroud of night, it looked pleasant and inviting. A moss colored comfy looking couch was against the left wall while the right wall was occupied by a hectic series of shelves. Framed pictures, decorative doodads and fake flowers of all sorts occupied the plentiful shelving. This included several adorable Pokémon dolls, some of them in costumes and frilly dresses. Rad couldn't help but notice that there wasn't a single Raichu doll amongst them, but he opted not to criticize Ms. Warner's tastes.

Rad turns his head, checking for signs of life around the abode. "Uh… Where is everybody?"

"This way, gentlemen," Dayna gestures to their right where, branching to the right of the foyer, was an office room.

A mahogany wood desk, riddled with notes, rested by the window. On the other side of the room was a tremendous book case. Aside from a few bookends, every shelf was packed with reading material of assorted sizes. Laying in front of the case was a burgundy rectangular rug complete with complicated designs of gold swirls and shapeless ruby patterns.

The walls of the busy office displayed a grand variety of clocks made of plastic and wood. Rad looked at the Pokémon shaped ones and was sorely disappointed when, once again, he failed to see one resembling a Raichu. The ticking and tocking echoed off the corners in gentle harmony; the sounds of clockwork were low enough to provide subtle background ambience to the captivating office space.

Dayna marched over to the bookcase and pointed at one of the shelved books closest to the ground. "Would one of you kindly pull this out?"

"Is now really a good time to catch up on reading, robot?" Rad scoffed.

"Ooh! Is this one of those trick bookcases I've read about?" Barry went over to Dayna and began tugging on the book.

"Don't be ridiculous, Barry," said the Raichu. "This house is too cramped for anything to be behind there."

It took a few tries, but the Togedemaru managed to tilt the odd book slightly out of place.

In the blink of an eye, the rug under Rad's feet splits in half and retreats into the floor, leaving the electric rodent hovering in the air for a second.

"What the–?" The noise of the rug shifting catches Rad's attention and as soon as he looks down, he plunges into the passage below.

"**Aah!"**

The floor was at a shallow incline that led deeper underneath the home. The Raichu tumbled down the ramp and reached the bottom, landing on his face.

"Ugh, crazy humans and their crazy architecture," Rad grumbles as he stands back up. His words halt as he sees his new surroundings and Barry and Dayna catch up to him.

An immense amount of computer monitors coated the walls on their left, leaving several whiteboards littered with notes and scribbling on the right. Rad wasn't sure what most of the notes meant, but he could definitely see the name "Apollo" come up a number of times. A few laboratory tables were lined up in the center, each one presented an assortment of complicated computer parts that the cave dwelling Pokémon were not at all familiar with.

"Whoa. This is _definitely _Ms. Warner's home," says Barry.

"What is it with humans and secret labs?!" Rad huffed. "Can't we have a _normal_ abandoned building for once?!"

A sudden screech of static fills the air, startling the Raichu and Togedemaru. The abrupt noise was followed by a low and distorted booming voice:

"_**Who goes there?!"**_

Everyone's eyes dart around, trying to find the source of the disembodied speech.

"**You are currently trespassing on private property. One more step and the emergency defense magnetron will fire millions and millions of microwaves at you until you **_**explode!"**_

"Eek!" Barry dove behind Rad and covered his head as much as he could with his short stubby paws.

"Using me as a personal shield is getting old," said Rad, tugging the spherical Pokémon by the ear.

"Sensors detect the voice of operator Michelle," says Dayna. "She should be in the immediate area."

"_**...Wait a minute…"**_

The trio hears the static return followed by a shuffling sound in the far corner. A blue and white creature with a round pink nose pops its head out from behind a navy blue colored curtain. When it sees Rad and Barry, it immediately retreats into hiding and the bizarre voice comes back on:

"**Oops! I mean… Ahem. Forget you saw anything, intruders! Pay no attention to the **_**Brionne**_ **behind the curtain—"**

"Okay, who are you and what is going on here?!" Rad shouts.

The hidden being reveals itself to be the Pokémon Brionne, complete with pinniped-esque flippers and tail. "Fine. You got me. But I have to tell you that the robot isn't yours!"

"This Raichu and Togedemaru activated this unit. I have calculated that they are currently no threat to Alice Warner," Dayna announced.

"Will you quit saying that?!" said Rad.

The Brionne slid up to the artificial Shinx with eyes gleaming.

"I knew it! Project D4YN4! You found it fully functioning and everything?!" She squeals with glee, hopping up and down.

Barry squints at the water type stranger. "Are you… Alice Warner?"

"Oh! Where are my manners? Name's Michelle!" The Pokémon extended her flipper for a handshake. "Alice Warner's my mom. Well… not my _actual_ mom but you get the idea! Welcome to our home!"

"The name's Rad," the Raichu returned the shake. "And this Togedemaru here is my partner, Professor Barritovski."

Barry's face flushed as he shook Michelle's flipper and chuckled nervously. "My uh… real name is Barry. We hope we're not intruding, miss. I assure you we mean no harm."

"Well, if mom's Shinx says you're harmless then it's all right with me!" The Brionne spots Rad's bandages. "What happened to you?"

The Raichu gestured to himself. "You mean the cheeks, the ear and missing tail, right? Well, long story short—"

"Ah! Let's not start that again!" Barry interjected.

"Fair enough," Rad sighs. "To be honest, I don't know how I got like this. Our chief Mack insists it was _lightning_, but I highly doubt that happened."

Michelle tapped her chin in intrigue. "Hmm… That is quite a conundrum."

Taken aback, Rad glared at her. "What did you call me?"

"Rad!" Barry rebukes. "Let's not antagonize the only allies we have right now!"

"Aw, you guys are adorable!" the Brionne's smile took a turn as she caught a whiff of the two. "Ugh! My goodness! What is that smell?"

"My smelling sensors detect odors originating from sewer pipes, burnt hair and pretzels two years past their 'Best By' date," Dayna speaks.

"Sorry. That's probably us," Barry's ears drooped.

Rad took an ungracious sniff under his arm. "I don't smell anything."

Michelle looked down at her flippers with wide eyes. "Oh my gosh! Be right back!" The Brionne slides away behind the curtain again.

"Thanks a lot, Dayna!" Rad says to the Shinx bot. "You had to be the robot with the arbitrary '_smell sensor'_, huh?! Bet you're a real hit at parties."

"We _do _stink, Rad!" says Barry. "You're the one who sniffed your armp—"

"Excuse me, gentlemen! Could you stand still for just a moment?" Michelle sang as she pointed the end of a funnel attached to a long hose at them. The Raichu and Togedemaru stared back at the apparatus unnervingly.

"What is that?" Rad peeped.

Before anyone could answer, a sudden blast of piping hot steam ejected from the funnel, pushing Rad and Barry toward the wall.

"_**Aiee!"**_

"Sorry guys," Michelle smiled as she put the hose away. "Can't have dirty Pokémon tracking grime and bringing funky smells into mom's lab."

The Raichu and Togedemaru's fur puffs out like they just escaped the dry cycle, making the two look twice their original size.

"You could've warned us!" Rad yells while patting his fluff down.

Michelle turned to the Shinx robot. "Apollo hasn't done anything to you, have they?"

"Negative," Dayna answers. "This unit has been left on the charging dock before being booted up by Rad and Barry. After surveying the environment, I have found that Apollo's prototypes have all left the facility. In response, I have booted Ms. Alice Warner's emergency command to return to her base of operations."

"That's why we're here!" says Barry. "We were looking for Alice Warner to tell her that a crazy Pikachu has control over all these killer robots and now she's going after Apollo themselves!"

"The prototypes? A Pikachu? Hold on guys," Michelle extended her arms out. "What happened down there?"

…

* * *

…

Rad and Barry recalled their story of how they found the Raichu robots, activated Dayna and how Liz the Pikachu tricked them into giving her the device capable of controlling the robo Pokémon. The quartet sat by a dusty computer situated on the floor under a solitary desk.

"This isn't good. Apollo and his team must be absolutely livid about this rogue robot incident," says Michelle.

"Yeah. They're probably real mad about it too," Rad added.

The Brionne plugs Dayna's tail into a socket on the ground and attached a wire from the back of the computer to one of the Shinx's ears. The water Pokémon then taps several buttons on a keyboard-like device made with keys shaped to accommodate her flippers. "I don't believe it! Mom's data is completely intact! We can access her Apollo files from here."

The Raichu gawked at the talented Brionne tapping away. "You know how to use that thing?"

"Ms. Warner taught me. Computers are much more interesting than balancing balloons on your nose anyway."

"If you don't mind us asking, Michelle, what exactly _is_ Dayna?" Barry asks.

"Project D4YN4 is the codename for this prototype robot Ms. Warner was working on," Michelle answers. "I'll stick with '_Dayna'_ though. It actually sounds pretty cool."

"I thought that was her name," Rad rubbed the back of his head.

"Inspired by the Shinx of the Sinnoh region, Mom spent years of research developing an artificial intelligence identical to a real Pokémon," Michelle explains. "But this bot is unlike any Shinx ever known to exist. Thanks to Apollo's technology, Ms. Warner outfitted Dayna with jet propulsion, light array lasers and a super strong metal shell!"

Rad wrinkles his nose. "Uh… I'm sorry. The… _what_ region?"

"You've never heard of Sinnoh? What about Kanto? Unova?"

The Raichu shrugged. "Nope. I mean, our chief Mack has always told us that Shinx and other Pokémon that live here come from all sorts of places, but he never explained where _exactly_ they were from."

"We've never ventured too far from our den besides your town, the market and the time we found the lab where Dayna was," says Barry.

The Brionne pointed to her right at a framed picture of an auburn haired adult in a wheelchair, hugging a Popplio.

"That's Ms. Alice Warner," says Michelle. "She lived in Sinnoh until Apollo hired her on as chief engineer for their projects. I hatched from my egg shortly after mom moved to Tailynne Town. Alice loved the idea of using robotics to help people and Pokémon, you see. Especially in this remote and unfamiliar region. We thought we had the perfect life here, but then she found out about Apollo's true agenda."

Rad crossed his arms. "They want to replace real Pokémon with incredibly deadly robot ones."

Barry gulped. "You mean… what Liz said about Apollo making and selling robo Pokémon super weapons wasn't a lie?"

Michelle looked back at her visitors with a solemn expression. "Mom's original assigned project was to build a prototype specifically to test artificial intelligence. But it didn't stop there. While Ms. Warner was still working on the programming, Apollo told the manufacturing team to weaponize the robots. They ran hundreds of tests on real Pokémon, calculating the strength of their powers, in order to construct stronger machines. Since recreating Pokémon, even at average strength, was challenging, they resorted to cruder, more dangerous means to make the bots powerful. Electric abilities from Pikachu and Raichu were replicated using wires and batteries ran the intricate motors on their legs. Then they commanded mom to install Dayna's lasers and other defense systems. Alice realized that these prototypes would have great capability of hurting people. So, she tweaked Dayna's programming and created a backup plan for when the activation would eventually begin. But what is especially troubling is that it wasn't supposed to happen this early! Someone or something purposely turned on the robots prematurely."

"I bet it was that insane Pikachu Liz," says Rad.

"So, now, you and Alice are trying to prevent these machines from being let loose?" asked Barry.

"That's the idea," Michelle pressed a button on her keyboard revealing a blue and white image of an industrial rectangular building on the computer monitor. "After the Raichu robots attacked underground, Apollo transferred Ms. Warner, the test Pokémon and the robot manufacturing team to this building: Apollo Lab's main production facility on Mount Neuron."

"Haven't the engineers realized what Apollo is trying to do?" the Togedemaru questions.

"I don't know," Michelle answers. "There are still people who believe that these bots will benefit everyone. They might not be aware that their demise is right under their noses. Fortunately, now that Dayna is back, we can continue mom's mission to stop Apollo and save everyone before they get hurt or worse."

The Brionne tapped another button to show a picture of a Pikachu and Raichu. "Ms. Warner's working at the facility now; she'll help sabotage the manufacturing process. We have no way of contacting her, so it's up to us to finish what she started. If Liz really did activate the robots prematurely, she's the one who made us lose contact with the Pikachu and Raichu who were supposed to get into the building for us. I can't go there because Apollo knows I'm Alice's Pokémon and I would send Dayna on her own but they might have an EMP weapon to use against her."

Rad raised a brow. "EMP?"

"Electromagnetic pulse. They're made for damaging electronics," Michelle explains. "After what happened underground, Apollo may have to use EMP to control the robots in case they go nuts again."

"I've calculated a potential plan of action, operator Michelle," Dayna disconnected herself from the computer and freed her tail from the socket on the floor. "I propose Rad and Barry to accompany me on our mission to infiltrate the Apollo facility. They can provide a rudimentary yet valuable distraction."

"What?! Us?!" Barry yelps.

"All right, time out!" Rad put his paws together in the shape of a 'T'. "No offense, but I'm done doing weird tasks for strange Pokémon! Obviously, I don't want Liz or Apollo to hurt anyone either, but we didn't come here to risk our butts invading a killer robot factory! We told you that the last time we tried helping someone, we got kicked out of our home only to get our back stabbed! I mean, how do we know this isn't all a trap? How do we know _you _won't betray us the same way that Pikachu did?!"

"You don't have to trust me," says Michelle. "But you _have _to stop Liz and Apollo. Whether we're on your side or not, it won't matter once these mad men start taking over with their war machines."

"If Rad is still hesitant to aid in the mission, perhaps we can arrange a compromise for your services," Dayna suggests.

The Raichu paused. "What sort of compromise are we talking about?"

"How about this…" Michelle starts. "You said no one believed you when you tried to tell them about Dayna, right?"

"Yeah…" Rad nodded.

"If you help us with this operation and save everyone from getting hurt, I promise we'll do whatever we can to help you return to your den."

Rad's good ear perked up. _The den…?_

The Raichu didn't want to trust this strange Brionne, whom he only _just _met, that wanted him to jump right into the furious Beedrill nest that was Apollo's factory, but Michelle had a point. Lie or not, innocent people and Pokémon were in danger. Their former den, where Mack and the denizens of the Lair lived, was in danger. There might not even _be_ a Lair after Apollo and Liz get through with each other. Mack's voice returned to Rad's head:

...

_Don't you ever think of the community?..._

_I tried helping you. I told you and Barry again and again to clean up your act..._

_I don't know how someone can fail so much…_

…

The Raichu, lost in thought, found himself staring at a wall. He turned to his exhausted friend. Barry's face creased in discomfort as he waited for Rad's reply. This was a lot to take in for the little guy. Rad then looked back at Michelle the Brionne. Her eyes dug into him with pleading sincerity.

Finally, Rad speaks...

"Can we keep the robot?"

"What?! No! Dayna belongs to Ms. Warner now!" says Michelle.

"Not even for a little while?"

"If Rad requires my services, I can oblige," Dayna adds.

Michelle bites her lip and sighes. "Ugh! Fine. But only for a little while!"

"Then you got yourself a deal!" Rad exclaims.

"Rad! What if we _can't_ do this?" Barry trembled. "Maybe we should just go back to the Lair and beg Mack and the others to listen to us."

"There's no time for that," says Rad. "Liz and her Raichu bots could already be causing havoc. We have nothing to lose! You said so yourself!"

"Well, we do _now!_ We could lose our lives!"

"Think about it, Barry! We'll save everyone from Apollo's machines, get back at Liz for betraying us and show the guys back at the Lair we were right all along! It's a win-win-win situation!"

"The last time you said that we got into a lose-lose-lose situation," Barry swallowed before responding in hesitance. "But I guess… we can try. So we can help everyone."

"Of course! I mean, we got Dayna! You saw what she did to those robo Raichu that chased us! What better way to stop rogue robots than with a rogue robot of our own? It's called fighting fire with fire!" Rad hesitated, putting a paw to his chin. "Well, in this case, I guess it'd be electric and electric. And steel too. Maybe we're better off finding a ground type—"

"Rad, I advise you to refrain from speaking for the moment," Dayna interrupts.

The Raichu stared back at the robot dumbfounded. "Did… Did you just tell me to shut up?"

"No I have not," the Shinx paused. "Rad, shut up. Now I have."

Dayna walked away, leaving Rad with his jaw on the floor.

Michelle covered her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughter. "I think… _Pfft! _I think that was Dayna's adaptive language program."

The Raichu hid his mouth with his paw as he whispered to Barry and Michelle. "Are you telling me we somehow programmed _sass_ into the robot?!"

"I heard that," says Dayna.

"Of course you did," Rad sighs.

...

* * *

...

The craggy cliffs and jagged edges of Mount Neuron towered over the rocky valleys below as the moonlight shone from behind the summit. It was well past midnight as a dark colored truck, bearing a white letter "A" on its side, drove around the base of the mountain. Two men in gray uniforms sat in the vehicle; one of them was looking to the side with a heavy duty flashlight.

"We've been lookin' all day and all night," the dark haired man grunted from behind the wheel. "Can we call the search off already?"

"We're not showing up empty handed!" the blonde haired passenger gestured to the road. "Now, pick up the pace! We need to cover as much ground as possible. They're not gonna be waiting for us!"

Suddenly, they see a glimmering light in front of them, causing them to jerk to a stop. The truck's dim headlights revealed the ominous sight of a group of robot Raichu staring back at the men with unlit eyes. Standing silent in single file, the artificial Pokémon blocked the road.

The uniform clad goons glanced at each other then returned their eyes to the robots.

"Is that…?"

"I think it is."

"What the heck are they doing?"

The dark haired man paused before responding:

"...Waiting for us."

The two humans get out of their vehicle and approach the bots with caution. No matter what they did, the robo Raichu made no movement or sound. Waving their hands, calling out to them and even knocking them over did nothing to agitate the robots from their seemingly powered off state.

"I guess we're good," said the dark haired human.

"_...Pika pi…"_

The men craned their heads toward the side of the road to see a lone Pikachu with a heart shaped tail and an orange bow on its right ear. It stood looking at the humans with a device with its paws.

"Get the net, quick! That Pikachu has the _robot controller!" _The blonde man whispered to his co-worker.

The associate complied and threw out a disc shaped device with a blue light at the electric mouse. While in the air, a mesh net expanded outward in rapid force before landing on the Pikachu who shut its eyes but made no effort to escape.

After a while, the blonde man jotted down their findings on a clipboard while the other stashed the real Pikachu in a cage in their truck bed along with the robot Raichu.

"We're still missing a few bots," the blonde grumbled as they re-entered the truck.

"Ah, we'll just say those got destroyed during that incident underground. Let's get back to the lab," his co-worker responded. He turned the vehicle around, going back up the road to Mount Neuron. "Looks like today's our lucky day!"

The caged Pikachu smirked.

"Mine too," says Liz.

* * *

End of Chapter 3

* * *

...


End file.
